A preliminary report on the investigation and excavation of Matkechik site and Kamennyy Log site in Russia

doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0022

Abstract

Abstract:

In order to have a further understanding of paleolithic sites in Siberia, a joint archaeological team of Chongqing Institute of Cultural Heritage and Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was established in 2017. From August to September, two paleolithic sites in the Yenisei river were investigated and excavated, and a new paleolithic site named Matkechik in the valley of the Abakan River was surveyed. Matkechik site (near the village of Matkechik) is located in Abakan city, Republic of Khakassia. The artifacts excavated from the site include pebble cores, flakes and tools. The main raw material of the lithics are volcanics, chert and quartzite. Compared with other sites in the same terrace and similar burial context in the Yenisei River Basin, the age of the Matkechik site should be dated to the late Pleistocene.

Besides, an re-excavation was carried out in Kamennyy Log site, which is located in Kurtak geo-archaeological district. An area of 8 m² was excavated, 44 pieces of artifacts excavated from Cultural Horizon 1 and a piece of stone artifacts was excavated from the profile surface of Cultural Horizon 2. The stone assemblage includes flak cores, flakes, chips and retouched tools, such as scrappers and drill. The raw material can be classified into 4 types, namely chert, vein quartz, quartzite and volcanics, while only chert and vein quartz were major raw materials. This excavation further enriched the archaeological materials of the site and was also conducive to further improving the archaeological chronology sequence of the site.

Key words: Siberia, Late Paleolithic, Matkechik site, Kamennyy Log site

CLC Number:

K871.11

GAO Lei, ZOU Houxi, WANG Wei, DAI Yubiao, Nikolay Ivanovich DROZDVO. A preliminary report on the investigation and excavation of Matkechik site and Kamennyy Log site in Russia[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2022, 41(01): 148-156.

Figures/Tables 5

Fig.1 Geographic location of the Matkechik site

Fig.2 Stratigraphic profile of the Matkechik site TG1

Fig.5 Lithic artifacts from the Matkechik site and Kamennyy Log site

Fig.3 Geographic location of the Kamennyy Log site

Fig.4 Stratigraphic profile of the Kamennyy Log site

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